NUKU'ALOFA (M/TONGA) - Four men have been charged with murder, in relation to the death of a 34-year-old man alleged to have been assaulted and left unconscious on the side of a road opposite Vaiola Hospital, early on Saturday, July 7.
Deputy Police Commissioner Taniela Faletau said yesterday the four Tongan men aged between 16 to 20 years from Haveluloto and Tofoa, were arrested over the weekend. They are each charged with murder, while two are charged with robbery. The suspects first appeared at the Nuku'alofa Magistrate's Court on July 8, and were remanded in police custody until July 25, for their next court appearance.
Taniela said the victim was a Tongan man and police believed he was robbed after being assaulted and was left unconscious with injuries, on the side of Niumeitolu road, opposite the hospital around 3am.
He was found on the road by a resident of a home where he was lying in front. He was rushed to the hospital but died at 9:m.
The police had recovered some of his belongings, but no further details were released at this stage, as the investigation continued, he said.
This is the second homicide in the past two weeks in Nuku'alofa.
A Nuku'alofa shopkeeper, who was a national of an Asian country, was found dead in his shop in the Nuku'alofa CBD, on June 25.
Three men of Asian origin were arrested and charged in relation to the murder, before they were released on June 29 by the Nuku'alofa Magistrate's Court, after the Crown Prosecution offered no evidence